Obama was giving a jab. The audience took it that way, and I would say from the smirk on his face just before he said the “pig with lipstick” line he thought they would, and he felt pretty good about it at the time. Also, I don’t believe this genious with words used the following “old fish” remark by chance. When he gets frustrated he gets snarky. I don’t think it was sexist, and I don’t think it disqualifies him from being president. I do think the reason you’re running to his defense is mostly because you’re worried about how this smugness (as with Hillary)and unforced error will affect his standing with women . . . where he is already slipping. The media can’t physically carry him over the line. At least be honest and not lie and mislead people.

Thank you for today’s column, “Blizzard of Lies.” I’m very glad that someone is finally calling the McCain campaign’s intentional untruths by their proper name. It has been appalling to watch commentators and professional observers engage in excruciating verbal contortions to avoid using that good, honest word.

You note that the McCain campaign is “counting on the common practice in the news media of being “balanced” at all costs” and “also counting on the prevalence of horse-race reporting.” Indeed. I don’t know if it is fear or stupidity that leads many in the world of contemporary reporting to think that it is not their job to report the truth, but it has clearly become the norm to substitute an uncritical “balance” for actual investigation of either side’s claims. (How often have we heard some reporter claim with stunning illogic that since both sides object to his reportage, he “must be getting it right?” I despair.)

And the horse race: It must be said that there is something naturally attractive about it. It is exciting and attention-grabbing. But it not only distracts from, it crowds out the serious discussion of policy that we desperately need. It makes me wonder who reporters think they are writing for; the blogosphere is crowded with people who are very deeply concerned with matters of policy. But, no, we get self-serving nonsense in the form of “the theory, often advanced as a defense of horse-race political reporting, that the skills needed to run a winning campaign are the same as those needed to run the country.” I believe that this–egregious as it is–is a testable hypotheses. I predict that anyone testing this hypothesis would find it to be false.

Paul:
Please bring your eco insight to the Alaskan economy. Here is my amateur attempt:
We need to place Palin into more context to develop the idea that she is not the average mom, and that McCain’s judgment is flawed. Take a look at the Alaskan state budget. It is roughly 12 billion. Only 500 million comes from the residents themselves. (Since they pay no income or sales tax, I am not quite sure what the sources are.) This is only 4% of the budget. The rest of the income is from investments (read, oil), direct tax on oil, and federal grants (17%). Their expenditures on their people average 14K for every man, woman, and child, compared to an average in the lower 48 of 5K. They returned 2K to each resident as part of the annual oil grant; but this year they just added an other $1,200 to this. This makes Alaska a combination of Kuwait and a dependency like Guam. Every other state is suffering from an economy that has been battered by the increased cost of oil: alaskans, by contrast, have improved their standard of living because of it – just like Kuwaitis and Iranians. Heck, all they need to do is join OPEC to complete the picture! Why would an Ohio “Walmart Mom” have any affinity for these people?

In past years, not recently, Alaskan oil has gone primarily to Pacific Rim countries. This is because at the peak production, west coast refineries did not have the capacity to handle it. More recently, because of governmental objection and the reduced production, Alaskan oil reaches the lower 48 (but at a similar price to mid-east oil – fungible commodity that it is). If they were to get access to new oil there, we would have to send it to the Pacific Rim again. So, as you know, there is no such thing as domestic oil, absent the nationalization of that industry.

It is ironic that having had eight years of two oilmen in the White House, McCain would choose as his running mate another one.
Frank McDermott

I second the other Mike R in #4. A primary job description of any journalist should be to sniff out and expose lies coming from politicians. Paul, you have done this admirably, but it makes us notice the cowardice everywhere else.